Watch: Firefighters battle blaze in Burnaby park

A brush fire at a Burnaby park this week could have been a lot worse if not for the vigilance of local park goers.

The fire department got multiple calls shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday about a fire at Byrne Creek Ravine Park, according to acting assistant fire Chief Joe Mora.

But crews didn’t locate the fire right away.

“There are a couple of trail heads that enter in to that area, so the first crew went to the first trail head,” he said.

Luckily, Emma Scott, who walks in the park every day, decided to extend a stroll she was taking with a friend and ran into the fire.

When she called 911, she was told the fire department was already on scene, but she didn’t see any firefighters where she was, which was right by the fire, so she called again.

Eventually she was connected via cell phone with the fire crews on the scene and led them to the blaze, which was about 700 metres up the trail from Southridge Drive.

By that time, Scott said the fire had grown alarmingly and the equipment the firefighters had with them didn’t look like it was going to do the trick.

“They had a little backpack with a spray thing and a couple of axes and shovels, and they could see very clearly that that was very insufficient,” she said.

Crews eventually doused the blaze with hoses they hauled into the forest.

Mora said the fire, which measured about 100 feet by 200 feet, scorched several trees. 

“If it’s dry, a fire can move really really fast, and that’s a heavily wooded area,” he said. “It is vitally important that we get there as quickly as we can.”

Scott is happy most of the forest was spared.

“I’m so, so grateful that I was in that particular place at that particular moment,” she said.

Byrne Creek Ravine Park is a special place for Scott.

She walks there every afternoon and even has a tattoo of one of the trees in the park on her calf.

She calls the unique tree the J tree for her son Jordan.

Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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